Temptation [A Young Writer's Prize Submission]

Arielle the Monster

Chapter Fifty Three

Lucien managed to get us back to Uniens House at midday - something which surprised me as I expected him to drive straight to Arielle's house... wherever that was.

"Stay here," he commanded, heading towards the side of the building, behind the garages. I was left alone with my thoughts. On the one hand, I was thoroughly confused by what was going on; on the other... well there wasn't really another hand. I wasn't overly concerned about Arielle - after all, she was hardly my favourite person - and so I felt an edge of resentment that Lucien was so keen to protect her. Their relationship simply confused me - who uses kisses as a form of payment?

So much about Lucien didn't add up - the swift transition from player to monogamous boyfriend. I refused to believe that I held sole responsibility for that - there had to be something more.

I was interrupted from delving further into that thought by Lucien's reappearance. He was carrying something in his arms, something he'd wrapped up in his coat. I gazed, wide-eyed, as he placed that moving... thing... in the back seat, then drove us out of the street.

"Keep an eye on her, Mercy," Lucien barked at me.

I turned around in my seat, apprehensively staring at the struggling figure in the back of the car. Lucien's coat fell away, revealing her face, and I almost screamed, unable to tear my eyes away from it.

"Lucien... is that Arielle?" I asked in a hushed, shocked whisper.

He stared at me, amiss with wonder and confusion. "You can tell?"

The creature in the back was far from human. Its skin was almost translucent, but smouldering, as if burned by flames. It was flaking away like a tree branch in a growing fire. Her eyes, as she stared blankly at the back of the car seat, were a dull grey-black colour, covering from her tear ducts to her eyelashes. Her nose was flattened, the tip almost touching the top of her lips, while her nostrils were arched and high.There was little left of the plush lips Lucien had kissed, but it gave me great satisfaction to see them ashen and wrinkled. What little hair she had left was wispy and black as her eyes.

Most disturbing of all in this creature's appearance, was the deep scratches following the line of grey-green veins in her face. Though partially healed, it looked as though somebody had ripped along the sensitive parts of a substance as hard as rock - like rock trying to heal itself.

She looked nothing like the tiny, beautiful girl Lucien had once had glued to his side; my mind almost refused to accept what I was seeing, but several things seemed to be falling into place.

"I think it's her," I assented. Next minute, I was thrown forward as Lucien slammed on the brakes. The creature screeched in pain at the motion, but then she was silent and still.

"How can you tell?" Lucien stared at me. With such determination in his eyes it was hard to deny him anything.

"I don't know," I murmured. "It's just... I feel the same vibes coming from her as Arielle."

"What?" Lucien waited for me to respond, almost absentmindedly taking my hand and stroking my palm with his thumb in comforting circles.

I blushed. "I can't explain it, really. I just feel that she's Arielle. Damaged and hurt, and looking like whatever she is, but she's still Arielle." My conviction was strong.

"You can feel her inner core," Lucien realised, looking as though he was in a distant place, trying to work out what I'd just told him.

"Her what?"

"Her inner core," Lucien replied. "Her spirit or however you'd like to call it. She's hurt, so you feel it broken."

I shrugged. My mind was still trying to process this; the idea that Arielle wasn't human, but something that looked more and more like a demon.